The present invention relates to a carrier for holding a plurality of baseballs or the like, and it relates more particularly to a portable ball carrier or caddy that is simple and inexpensive and permits insertion into and removal from the carrier of any one ball without disturbing other balls and especially without the necessity of removing one or more balls from the carrier in order to obtain access to any particular ball.
While only one baseball at a time is necessary to play the game of baseball, it is most often desired to have a substantial number of balls available during a game and during practice sessions. For example, entire baseball games between major league teams are played with relatively new and unscuffed balls, and new balls are kept on hand to replace any playing ball which become scuffed, otherwise damaged, or lost. Moreover, more than one ball is used during warm-up, batting and pitching practice, etc, and used balls are often satisfactory for such purposes.
Since it is not easy for an individual to handle and carry a plurality of balls at any one time in view of their spherical shape and size, various carriers have been provided in the past to hold a plurality of balls and allow the same to be carried onto and off a playing field. Many of such carriers, though, suffer from one or more deficiencies. For example, simpler carriers are basically in the form of baskets or the like, and it will be appreciated that it a particular ball (such as a new one) is desired, one must sort through all of the balls to find the same. Other carriers which allow one to selectively choose a ball without the necessity either of sorting through a plurality of balls for the same or of emptying all of the balls from the carrier are generally too complicated and expensive to meet with commercial success.